Police explore possible link between July 3 explosion and devices found last fall

LACONIA — Police are looking into the possibility that the explosion which seriously injured a man early this month may be related to a series of bomb incidents in the city last fall, Police Chief Matt Canfield said Monday.

“We have conducted a number of interviews and are waiting for results to come back from the lab, but we want to see if there was any connection to the bomb cases last fall,” Canfield said.

Two men were injured, one seriously, when an explosion occurred on the evening of July 3 on Provencal Road in the vicinity of Mile Hill Road.

Occurring as it did at the outset of the Fourth of July weekend, officials initially thought the explosion might have been a fireworks accident.

Authorities have not released the names of the injured men, but two weeks ago Laconia Fire Chief Kirk Beattie said the injuries to the man who was more seriously hurt were “very serious.”

Canfield said the device which exploded resembled what police found on Bartlett Beach last Sept. 30. Canfield said in both cases the objects were machined metal cylinders with screw caps on either end.

The object found on Bartlett Beach did not explode. Similarly, devices found in the parking lot behind the Belknap County Courthouse on Sept. 16, and another found in the parking lot of the main office of Bank of New Hampshire in downtown Laconia on Oct. 23 did not explode.

No one was injured in any of last year’s incidents and police have made no arrests.

However, in the Bank of New Hampshire scare, the bank was evacuated and traffic in the downtown area was detoured for several hours. The device, which was found between two cars parked outside the bank, was exploded as a precaution.

The device found at Bartlett Beach was disassembled by the State Police bomb squad. The device found outside the County Courthouse was described as a chemical bomb. It was removed and detonated at another location.